To think a 84cm / 34 inch waist is not "slim"

[apenny4]

Here's a link to the article

I'm very open to being told IABU, in fact I'd be quite relieved to be told I have a warped view. Right now though I don't think a 34 inch waist is slim. To me slim is no larger than a size 10 so around a 27 inch waist max.

Unless you are a much taller than the average woman (average being 5' 4"?) I think a healthy (in the general sense of the word) waist is less than 30 inches.

However I have a small frame and have felt overweight whenever I've needed to wear size 12 bottoms (and that's still not over a 30 inch waist).

The irony is that I still think I'm at high risk of developing diabetes because my father has it and whilst not overweight I have a diet quite high in sugar.

Genuinely interested in people's views on this and whether my own view is out of kilter with the norm.

[ArgyMargy]

The only reason you would need instructions about how to measure your waist would be if you can't see it. The most dangerous fat is visceral fat. A 34inch waist is unhealthy for the majority of women. Many women appear comfortable with that risk.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

Body sizes baffle me.

I'm 5ft exactly, I weigh 10 stone 10 pounds which I know is very overweight.
I have a 28 inch waist and yesterday I walked into 3 different shops and bought a size 10 petite skinny jeans (one pair is high waisted if it makes a difference)
My bust and hips are 38 inches, I always have a 20 once difference between hips/ bust and waist.

Yet in previous weight/ height threads I say this and people rush into to tell me this is shit and I must be a 14/16 dress size at that weight and height.

I think body sizes vary so much from person to person that these studies can't be all that accurate.

[sleepwhenidie]

Trying to have a discussion about dress size related to weight is a complete waste of time because as has been said, there is no single standard for dress sizes, clothes are cut to suit the market they are intended for - a TopShop size 10 dress (presume intended market slim teens) will bear little resemblance to a size 10 in somewhere like Monsoon (intended market more mature). And sizes can even vary in the same shop (Gap I'm looking at you). Threads along the lines of "if you are 5ft 5" and 11stone what dress size are you?" are pointless, dress size is pretty meaningless, not to mention the fact that people carry weight differently and have different body fat levels.

[Titsalinabumsquash]

That should of said I always have a 10 inch difference between bust/hips and my waist. Not sure where the 20 came from!

This is true whatever size I am btw, at my biggest I've weighed 14 stone and been a size 14/16

[ouryve]

I'm not in the least bit happy with my pot belly, Suzanne.

[eloquent]

You cannot blanketly say that a 6/8 is normal. Or should be.
At my size, 14/16, my collar bones and hip bones are visible. Collar bones very much so. I honestly would look emaciated at 6/8. Perhaps because I have big boobs and an a ass. I don't know.
This thread is "fat" shaming, and not even shaming "fat".

[EdithWeston]

"Yet in previous weight/ height threads I say this and people rush into to tell me this is shit and I must be a 14/16 dress size at that weight and height."

I think this is because the sizing that existed before the deregulation has sneaked into the consciousness. Before the 1980s, 38 hips would have been a 14, and so depending on your other dimensions you probably would have been a 14/16.

It shows how far the sizes have shifted that this is now a 10.

But how people think about dress sizes doesn't seem to have shifted so mush.

[suzannecaravaggio]

I'm not in the least bit happy with my pot belly, Suzanne
It appears that something causes us to store fat centrally and once it starts there is a positive feedback loop...visceral adipose tissue attracts more of the same.
Presumably at least inpart this is connected to the various cytokines it secretes.

For many people it is not a case of being over fat, just that the fat they do have is in the wrong place?

So you are in a position of feeling it would be better to lose some weight even though you're not actually overweight?

The measurements required to get to a very low body fat level (if that is the only way to not have a belly) can seem onerous, understandably so

[suzannecaravaggio]

Measures
Not measurements!

[storynanny]

I'm still on the "where to measure waist" bit of the thread!
So I am 5'2" with very short mid section. My bust is 36" my hips are 36". If I measure round my narrowest part I am 28/29 but if I measure around the belly button area I am 34". That can't be my natural waist measurement surely? I know I am and always have been an apple shape but a waist can't possibly only be 2" less than bust and hips on someone who wears 10-12 clothes?
We all have such different shaped bodies, no wonder we can't find clothes to fit properly.
Yes according to my vintage dress patterns I would now need to cut a size 16 to fit my waist.

[FourForYouGlenCoco]

I agree with eloquent though that you can't just say 'size 6/8 is healthy' and leave it at that. I'm 5'10", consider myself to be on the skinny side of normal and a fairly standard size 10, 12 in some shops/styles/items. To be a size 6 I would have to be severely, dangerously underweight and it would be incredibly unhealthy. Different things are healthy for different people.

[ouryve]

I am overweight at the moment. I got down to a bmi of 22 a few years back, though, before a combination of middle age, mobility issues and medication completed scuppered my efforts and still had a pot belly. Given the musculoskeletal issues I have, a large part of that will be down to my abdominal muscles being shot.

I move as much as I can within the limits of pain (10000 steps and more, most days) and my blood cholesterol levels are good. The bulging belly pisses me off, but getting back my 1987 size 10 is never going to happen.

[GodImtired]

"But surely only truly obese don't have a visible collarbones"
I was clinically obese BMI 33 and my collarbones were clearly visible, I also had a 34" waist, two years ago I lost over 6 stone and by sheer bloody dogged determination have not put any back on, I'm now a size 10 on the top primarily because I'm very big boned and have huge shoulders and a 6-8 on the bottom, I don't have any hips, (I'm a weird shape) my BMI is 20 so you can be a healthy weight/BMI and a small size.
I adore food (least I did) and am an absolute foodie, famous amongst my friends for having no will power when it comes to food but I am living proof that you can not only loose weight but keep it off. I'm 50 and I can honestly say it's the best thing I've ever done for myself, I look 35, my confidence has come back, my skin is amazing as is my hair, I wear clothes that I love rather than those to cover up the rolls of fat, I feel so healthy, I was getting out of breath on the flat and I'm not recognisable, plenty of people who knew me before I dieted failed to recognise me.

[SoWhite]

I have just measured myself:

I am 5 foot 7
I weigh 8.5 stone
I wear a 30C bra
I wear a size 8
My BMI is 18.4
And my waist measures 27 inches exactly.

I have fairly large bones - meaning broad shoulders, and thick legs - not twiggy and spindly like a model. I also have a thin layer of fat on me - no visible muscle tone really.

I feel fairly slim, but not 'skinny'.

Where does that leave me?

[sleepwhenidie]

You fall in the 'healthy' bracket for BMI and waist measurement Sowhite, so you are statistically at lower risk of certain health complaints than those outside of that category. Doesn't necessarily mean healthy though - that has more to do with lifestyle factors such as quality of your diet, alcohol intake, whether you are a smoker or not, regular exerciser or not. 'Failing' on these fronts typically lead to higher body fat and illness ie. it isn't weight itself making people ill, it is their poor lifestyles, that happen to go hand in hand with excess weight (fat), which makes it a good 'red flag' to prompt people to look at what is going on for them.

[SoWhite]

What is the 'healthy' BMI bracket? I thought it started at 18.5?

[SoWhite]

And tragically, I am much more interested in how thin I look than how healthy I am.

Rationally, I know this is a bullshit way to think. But I've tortured my brain comparing my body to women far more beautiful than myself.

[TheCatsMeow]

SoWhite you're about half a stone lighter than me at the same height and I get told I'm "skinny" but we have a different shape from what you've said,I have tiny bones and not much muscle tone so I think I just look feeble and wimpy!

[SoWhite]

Do either of you feel 'skinny'?

I definitely don't. But I understand that my perception of my own size is horribly skewed.

[TheCatsMeow]

SoWhite sometimes. When they can't get an adult sized wrist splint to fit me at the hospital or I have to get extra holes punched in small belts I feel skinny. But on the whole not really.

I have bony ribs showing, but I have relatively wide hips (36", not big but my waist is 25") and medium sized boobs so I think I look slim rather than skinny if that makes sense?

I just bought a dress that uses vintage sizing and I fit perfectly in size 12, normally I'm an 8 on the bottom and 8/10 on top.

[SoWhite]

I don't feel skinny either. I cover up my legs because I think they are massive. I'm in size 8 clothes and I have a thigh gap ffs. No matter how much weight I lose, I've always got an ass, tits and canckles. I never look elegant. My arms look like twigs and my collarbones are cracking though.